mohitagw15856
4.0 KiB
name, description
| name | description |
|---|---|
| discovery-interview-guide | Creates structured user discovery interview guides with screener questions, discussion guides, and synthesis frameworks. Use when planning user interviews, customer discovery sessions, Jobs-to-be-Done research, or problem validation. Triggers on "user interview", "discovery interview", "customer research", "JTBD", "problem validation". |
Discovery Interview Guide Skill
Design interviews that surface genuine insight — not validation of what you already believe. Every guide follows a story-based, past-behaviour-focused structure.
Core Principles
- Never ask about the future. "Would you use X?" tells you nothing. "Tell me about the last time you did X" tells you everything.
- Interview for behaviour, not opinion. Opinions are cheap. Behaviour is evidence.
- The 5 Whys. Every surface answer is a door. Keep opening doors.
- Confirm the problem before exploring the solution. Never show a prototype until you've confirmed the pain exists unprompted.
Interview Structure (60 minutes standard)
1. Warm-Up (5 min)
Build rapport. Get them talking. Don't discuss the topic yet.
- "Tell me a bit about your role and what a typical week looks like for you."
- "What tools do you rely on most day-to-day?"
2. Context Setting (10 min)
Understand their world before diving into the problem space.
- "Walk me through how you currently [handle the domain area]."
- "What does that process look like from start to finish?"
- "Who else is involved when you do this?"
3. Problem Exploration (25 min) — THE CORE
Surface pain without leading.
- "Tell me about the last time you had to [relevant task]. What happened?"
- "What was the hardest part of that?"
- "How did you handle it?"
- "What did you try before settling on that approach?"
- "What does it cost you when this goes wrong?" (time, money, stress, reputation)
- "If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about this process, what would it be?"
⚠️ Do not mention your product or feature during this phase.
4. Current Solutions (10 min)
Understand the competitive landscape from their perspective.
- "What tools or workarounds do you use today for this?"
- "What do you like about [current solution]? What frustrates you?"
- "Have you tried other approaches? What happened?"
5. Wrap-Up (10 min)
- "Is there anything about this topic we haven't covered that you think I should know?"
- "Is there anyone else you'd recommend I speak to?"
- "Would you be open to a follow-up if I have more questions?"
Output Format
Discovery Interview Guide — [Topic] — [Date]
Research Goal: [One sentence: what decision will this research inform?] Target Participant Profile: [Role, company size, behaviour qualifier]
Screener Questions (for recruiting):
- [Question] → Must answer: [Y/N or specific]
- [Question] → Must answer: [Y/N or specific]
- [Disqualifier question] → Disqualify if: [answer]
Interview Guide:
[Full structured guide using the format above, customised to the specific research topic]
Synthesis Template (fill after each interview):
- Key quote: "[verbatim]"
- Core pain: [1 sentence]
- Current workaround: [what they're doing today]
- Intensity (1–5): [how painful is this?]
- Surprise/unexpected finding: [anything that challenged your assumptions]
Pattern Detection (after 5+ interviews):
- Pain mentioned by [X/N] participants: [theme]
- Workaround used by [X/N] participants: [theme]
- Most emotionally charged moment in interviews: [observation]
Guidelines
- Recommend 5–8 interviews to reach thematic saturation for most discovery questions
- Always record with permission — transcripts beat notes
- If user is new to interviewing: remind them to stay silent after asking a question (aim for 80/20 participant-to-interviewer talking ratio)
- Never synthesise during the interview — do it after, when you can look across sessions
- Flag confirmation bias: if user writes questions that lead toward a predetermined answer, rewrite them as open-ended alternatives